


h

by Val9000



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Angst comes from Hal's general anxiety over relationships, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Not a lot of angst, Romance, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 14:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16306652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val9000/pseuds/Val9000
Summary: Hal and Barry soulmate au wherein the first words you hear your soulmate say are tattooed on your wrist. Hal's pretty sure he hasn't found his soulmate yet but after talking about it with Barry he can't stop thinking about how maybe Barry could be his soulmate. Cue Hal's relationship anxiety.





	h

**Author's Note:**

> I blank out while writing my fics and barely read over them but I hope you enjoy this anyway. If you want me to write more fics just chuck a prompt down in the comments and I'll try my best to get it done. (I won't do anything NSFW.)

In this universe, soulmates are found when the first words you hear from someone matches up with the words tattooed on your wrist and vice versa. Hal has the words ‘Look out’ written in inky black cursive. At first, when the concept was explained, he thought it would be easy. Unfortunately, Hal got himself into a lot of trouble throughout his life and so the words were always said to or around him. On top of that, it seems like there’s always some kind of disaster happening in which those words would be said. But those people’s words didn’t match up with what he said so his soulmate hasn’t yet been found. And he just hopes that his soulmate isn’t one of the people who he didn’t check with. Didn’t get the chance to check with. But then again – his response to those situations never got anyone asking if he was their soulmate so he feels like it’s safe to assume that he hasn’t come into contact with them yet. 

Hal remembers hoping it would be Carol. Entering a relationship with her anyway, despite the fact they aren’t soulmates. It isn’t unheard of – but it explains why their relationship never worked out. One of the reasons anyway. It didn’t stop them from trying multiple times, though. 

Once he became a superhero, the words were said so much that he stopped paying attention to them. When you’re always in battle with a team – someone’s always yelling those words. Instead of his heart speeding up slightly when they’re said – due to the anxiety and excitement over finding his potential soulmate – it’s replaced with the thought of “where’s the danger?”. 

He thinks about all this, now, as he sits on Barry’s couch as Barry complains about the people at his work. He should probably be paying attention – but he saw the top of the unmistakable black of Barry’s words when Barry’s sleeve rode up as he passed Hal a beer and he hasn’t been able to think of anything else. Barry usually keeps his words covered up. Hal never makes an active attempt to, but Central City is colder than Coast so he’s usually wearing something with long sleeves – at least around Barry. 

Barry finishes his complaint with a huff and quickly flicks through the channels of the TV before settling on some science documentary. Something about space. 

He’s aware that soulmates are considered private for some people. Hal never really understood that, though. Still doesn’t. 

Which is probably why he says, “What do your words say?” 

Barry looks over at him, startled. A hand comes up to play with his left sleeve – just over his words. 

“Why do you ask?”

“Curiousity. But if you’d prefer not to answer, that’s fine.” 

“Well what do your words say?” 

“I asked you first!” 

“So?”

“’Look out’.” 

Barry hums and drops his hand back to the couch. “Must hear that a lot.”

“You’ve got no idea.”

“Can’t be as bad as mine, though.” 

And then Barry’s bare wrist is in front of him. Not bare – the tattoo makes it not bare. The tattoo that says… ‘Fuck’. Hal blinks in shock and looks up at Barry, who genuinely does seem more interested in the show than this trade of information about themselves. As if this isn’t a big deal. It’s not really to Hal, but with the way Barry covers his words even when wearing short sleeves Hal expected this to be a bigger deal. Although with a word like that… Hal can kind of understand the covering it up. 

“Fuck?” Hal’s smiling now. 

“Mhmm.” Barry’s eyes narrow and Hal can’t tell if it’s because of him or something they said in the documentary. Mainly because he’s not focussed on the documentary. 

“Yeah buddy you got it way worse.” Hal laughs a little. “Jesus. How’d your parents explain that?” 

Barry lips do curve up into a small smile at that. “They told me I wasn’t allowed to say it and that I should keep it covered so no one else saw. I guess it stuck with me.” 

Barry startles suddenly and looks sharply down at his wrist – just too fast to be normal. It’s that movement that makes Hal realise that he’s gently tracing the letters. And if the trade of their words wasn’t intimate this definitely is. He draws his hand back quickly – still too slow. 

“Sorry.” 

Barry raises one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “’s fine.” Then he moves his wrist away from Hal to gesture vaguely to the TV. “Are they right?”

“What?”

“The documentary.”

“I haven’t been listening.” 

Barry huffs out a laugh and Hal tries to focus on the TV. Tries not to focus on how, out of the corner of his eye, he can see Barry trace over his words in the same manner that Hal did. He manages to put all thoughts of soulmates out of his head when the documentary says something that is definitely wrong. And the moment is broken even further when he points the mistake out to Barry. 

\--

But after that Hal finds himself spending more time thinking about soulmates again. And if he spends most of that time thinking about Barry and soulmates and specifically ‘Barry being his soulmate’ then that’s his business and no one else’s. He doesn’t remember the specifics about his and Barry’s first meeting – but it was during a battle. 

And a battle is where words such as ‘look out’ and ‘fuck’ could be said. 

It’s not that he wants Barry to be his soulmate. Absolutely not. Barry’s a good friend. That’s all. Attractive… but that doesn’t mean he wants Barry as a soulmate. He can just admire his best friend’s looks. And Barry’s nice and smart and Hal really likes spending time with him. But that’s normal friend stuff. (Which could just be why it took him so long to notice but now that the thought is in his head he can’t get it out). And there’s also – but that’s just – but Barry also – he doesn't really – it’s not like Barry would – 

There’s obvious holes in his logic that he refuses to acknowledge. He very carefully doesn’t acknowledge the fact that he doesn’t think about his other best friend, Oliver, that way. Sure he entertained the possibility once – but that was it. It was easy to stop thinking about. He also absolutely doesn’t think about how these are almost the same thoughts he had just before he started dating Carol – minus the “possible soulmates” part. Just the continuous thinking about a pros and cons list of bringing up the idea of a relationship to her – of being in one. (But, he argues back when he is thinking about it, despite the nature of their relationship before, Carol is his friend now. And his boss. So if there’s parallels it doesn’t really mean anything…)

Speaking of Oliver. 

Oliver who just found out who his soulmate is. 

Oliver who just found out that his soulmate is Dinah. 

Oliver who is over the moon and asking him out for drinks to celebrate. 

“I just don’t know how we didn’t figure it out before!” Oliver had said over the phone. 

“I mean even after we found out about each other’s words it didn’t click until just recently!” Oliver had also said over the phone. 

Smashing his ‘but if Barry and I were soulmates we’d already know by now’ defence into tiny pieces. 

Hal had said “that’s great!” in all the right places and very carefully didn’t mention anything about his own soulmate speculations because he knows how Oliver feels about Barry and he doesn’t want to open that can of worms right now. 

So he goes out and enjoys the night and very actively doesn’t think about Barry. 

It won’t be a problem, after all. 

\--

It’s beginning to be a problem. 

The more time Hal spends with Barry the more he thinks about it. And the more he thinks about it the more he thinks about how it can all go wrong. Barry is his best friend. He doesn't want to lose that. But if he’s in a relationship with Barry – he’ll definitely lose that. (He doesn’t think about how Carol and him are still friends despite dating. Because this is different. This is Barry.) Because what if he’s wrong and they’re not soulmates? Soulmates usually stay together – it’s extremely rare that any break up so if they are they have a chance… 

…But he could be wrong. He’s not even sure they said the words to each other. And if they’re not soulmates there’s a definite chance that they’ll break up. (Not really, the practical part of his brain supplies, but the thought is swept away by the flood of anxiety.) If he’s wrong, he could lose his entire relationship with Barry and he doesn’t want that. And even if they are soulmates who’s to say that Barry will want to date him anyway? That’s happened a lot before. Rare. But not as rare as soulmates getting together and then breaking up. It’s a higher possibility. Barry always sort of had eyes for his friend Iris, anyway. 

There’s just so much that could go wrong and the feeling of panic he gets whenever Barry so much as smiles at him is getting to be too hard to hide so… so he doesn’t spend as much time with Barry. 

Avoids him during league meetings. Finds a house is Coast quicker than he usually does so he’s not sleeping over at Barry’s for as long. Takes more missions in space. Is conveniently “too busy to hang out right now”. 

He’s very unsubtle about his avoidance. He can tell that Barry is catching on (because he’s so smart, he’s always been so smart) and the way Barry’s voice turns from hopeful to dejected after he denies for the third time in a row makes his stomach twist painfully. Because it didn’t used to be so dejected – it was just disappointment that Hal would hear. But now… 

Now he’s avoiding Barry because he knows he’ll have to talk to Barry about why he’s been avoiding him. And it’s funny, almost, because in the end it didn’t matter whether he tried a relationship with Barry or not – they aren’t really friends anymore, anyway. Because it’s been months since they last spoke to each other like friends and Barry has stopped calling. So Hal sabotaged his relationship with Barry, anyway. Fitting. 

And Oliver’s a weird mix of happy and annoyed about it. 

“I’m glad that you’re not hanging out with him anymore because he’s an asshole but you’re clearly upset about it so you’re spoiling my joy.” Oliver had said. 

\--

Barry catches up to him despite his efforts. A hand curling around his wrist (where his words are) that stops him in place. It’s just after a league meeting. They’re in costume. Which almost makes it easier to turn around and face Barry. Almost – Barry is in the version of his costume where his eyes are uncovered. Which means Hal’s eyes dart away from them because he can’t bare to look Barry in the eyes. Which means Hal’s eyes fall on Barry’s lips – which are pressed together tightly in a frown. So Hal moves his eyes instead to look just to the left of Barry. 

“Hal.” It’s spoken softly. Almost like Barry is afraid to scare him off. “I’d like to talk to you – if that’s okay.” 

“Sure.” He misses the mark of ‘cool, calm and unaffected’ by a mile. “I uh… just got back so I don’t really…”

“My place, then.” 

Which is unnerving because he hasn’t been in Barry’s apartment for a while now. But at least it gives him the opportunity to storm out if he gets overwhelmed. Barry had let go of his wrist when he turned around but he sees Barry reach out as if to grab it again (or maybe to grab his hand) before letting his arm fall to his side. Barry leads the way and Hal tries not to get to anxious over what Barry could possibly have to say to him. Barry’s too nice to yell at him. And Barry never really seemed like the type to have conversations like this – instead preferring to run away. Hide away. Like he did with his girlfriend once when she thought he was dead. Which was alright because Hal never really wanted to have conversations like this either. He never needed to in their friendship though. 

Barry probably just wants closure. Which is weird to think about because closure is normally associated with romantic relationships. Not friendships. 

He manages to get that thought in before Barry is ushering him into his house, then speeding off into the kitchen. Nervous energy is flowing from Barry which makes Hal even more nervous. 

“Drink?”

“Just water please.” It doesn’t feel right to ask for anything else. And Hal’s mouth has gone dry at the thought of the conversation ahead. 

Barry is handing him a glass of water and then once again ushering him to sit down at the couch. Barry sits next to him and fiddles with the remote – too fast for Hal to see anything except a blur before Barry’s suddenly wearing his civilian clothing. Hal takes that as a hint to change as well. He’s staring at his glass of water – very aware of Barry looking at him. 

“I miss you.” Barry’s voice is so soft that Hal almost misses it. It sounds entirely too much like something that would be said between people who are dating for his comfort. “Are you okay? Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?” These questions are still soft but rapid fire. It would usually be something he would attribute to the speedforce but Barry’s leg is bouncing so fast the couch is vibrating slightly. 

“Everything’s fine. You didn’t do anything wrong. This is all me.” 

“What do you mean?”

“I just –“ He doesn’t want to say it. He really doesn’t want to tell Barry that he thought they might be soulmates and he was so worried that something would go wrong that he distanced himself and instead made everything just as bad as he thought it would go. Because he was worried he was going to screw up a relationship and he didn’t want to lose Barry’s friendship but he ended up doing that anyway in his attempt to avoid it. 

Hal doesn’t realise he was speaking – saying all of that out loud. The only indicator of it is Barry’s frown deepening and the way he turns from Hal’s face to look contemplatively at his wrist. He doesn’t seem to be able to stop speaking either. Until he’s said everything. 

“Okay.” Barry says slowly. He’s pretty sure he can see Barry tapping into the speedforce to think about everything he said. The soft blurring of his body around the edges. It was a lot so Hal doesn’t blame him. It’s an automatic thing anyway – just Barry processing things fast. It also means that he doesn’t have to worry about waiting too long for an actual answer. “Okay. I remember how we first met each other. There are videos at the watchtower that I watch sometimes – for strategy.” 

Barry pauses, rubs hard against his words then looks up at Hal and reaches for his wrist. 

“Can I?” 

Hal puts his glass of water on the coffee table and offers his arm out. “I’m sorry. For avoiding you. You didn’t deserve that.” 

Barry’s tracing his words – like Hal did to him all those months ago. “It’s okay. We’re here now.” 

“So if you remember…” He trails off because he doesn't want to verbalise it. 

“I don’t remember the exact wording. Just the scenario. We’d have to go back up and look.” Barry doesn’t mention that he could run up, check and run back in a couple of seconds but since he doesn’t mention it neither does Hal. He’s content to sit here and watch as Barry traces his words. It’s a very intimate gesture. Something he tried not to think about when it was him who was tracing Barry’s words. 

Barry huffs and drops his wrist. “I thought you had just finally realised you were too cool for me.” 

“Well I might be cooler than you-“ Barry shoves him playfully “- but not ‘too cool’. I’d never be too cool for you.” He’s painfully aware of Barry small, fond smile. He’s painfully aware of his own grin. 

“I’d like to still be friends, if you don’t mind.” The playful moment disappears and it’s back to being serious. Barry fidgets, the small movements too fast for Hal to process but he knows what the blur of Barry’s hands means. “I wouldn’t mind… more than that.” 

“Wouldn’t mind?” Barry’s face flushes red at that and Hal’s sure his own is close to matching it. 

“Well if you want to, then I want to.” Both their faces darken. Hal really thought he was smoother than this. “But if you don’t want to then I don’t either.” Barry says in a rush. So fast that Hal’s surprised he caught any of the words. 

“Well I think we’ve already established that I want to date you. And that that was some crazy denial shit I was pulling.” Barry huffs out a laugh at that and Hal can’t resist leaning over and kissing him. It’s only a press of lips against lips before Hal’s pulling back quickly. He knows Barry would’ve had plenty of time to move away if he didn’t want the kiss so the fact that Barry didn’t pull away makes him feel giddy. And if Barry’s smile is anything to go by, he feels the same. Barry then grabs his hand and entwines their fingers and hums. 

“This is why I didn’t go and double check. I didn’t want us to be together just because we were soulmates.” Barry admits. “But we can go check now.”

\--

It turns out they are. Barry fast forwarded the video (that was carefully edited together from the multiple videos captured by various cameras during the fight) to the moment when video Barry yells “Look out!” and video Hal turns to avoid a large piece of rubble thrown at him while shouting “Fuck!”. It makes Hal feel an overwhelming positive emotion that has him pressing another kiss to Barry’s lips. Except this time, he doesn’t move away as far. 

“I’m taking us out on a date. We need to catch up.” He mumbles, just loud enough for Barry to hear. 

“Alright. Where are we going?” Hal can tell Barry is grinning so he pulls back even further to look. 

“Some place nice.”

“With jazz?”

“Jazz?”

“I like jazz.”

“Jesus. Okay I need to make it up to you anyway so I guess I can cop some jazz.” 

“Jazz is good! I thought you would like it – it fits your personality.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It reminds me of you. Jazz is one of my favourite genres of music.”

“Don’t say that. I don’t know whether I’m upset at the comparison or touched that your favourite genre of music reminds you of me.” Hal grimaces. “Even if it’s something as bad as jazz.”

Barry rolls his eyes and grabs Hal’s hand, pulling him away from the computer. “Lets just go to this ‘some place nice’ that you have in mind.” 

“Hey Barry?”

“Mhmm?”

“Can I borrow some money?”

It makes Barry laugh – loudly. Hal didn’t know how much he missed Barry’s laugh until he hears it again. Hal’s about to point out that it wasn’t a joke when Barry turns to press a kiss to his cheek.

“Sure.” 

The sweetness of the gesture has Hal blushing – he’s sure of it. The heat in his cheeks and the way his heart has sped up is what he decides to blame for his next words. “I think I love you.” He blurts it out. And immediately his heart speeds up for a different reason because it’s too soon it’s too much – 

– But Barry is smiling. Wide and warm. 

“I think I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey if you liked this fic and want me to write more fics chuck a prompt down into the comments and I'll try my best to get it done.


End file.
